Three Pathways to Crime Identified by Loeber

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The three pathways
Experimenters and persisters
Conclusion
Works cited

Introduction

A pathway in Loeber and colleagues’ developmental theory to crime is a depiction of a group of individuals who go through the same behavioral development experience that is different from development of other group of persons. It encompasses an account of an individual’s past in the course of time of problem behavior in a continuing increment of seriousness of problem behavior. This is based on the study of offender careers of youths between the age 10 and 16 years on an OJJDP program in Pittsburgh (Siegel & Welsh, 2009). Loeber and his colleagues analyze three basic and overlapping pathways in the advancement of delinquent and disruptive behavior among the males from childhood to adolescence as discussed below.

In preschool age children grows cognitive and verbal capability that make them equips them learn the developmental task of being honest. During this time they start to learn to respect other people’s property. They also learn to obey and regard figures of authority such as parents and teachers. Development of problem behaviors along the three pathways happens when children do not reach these developmental tasks successfully. These problem behaviors are linked to several conditions and disorders with Loeber and colleagues attributing attention Deficiency Disorder (ADHD) as the most common cause among youths who enter pathway to crime at the first stage (Howell, 2003).

The three pathways

Authority conflict pathway starts before children are 12 years of and is characterized with stubbornness at the first stage, and then progresses to serious disobedience and defiance at the second stage. The third stage is authority avoidance before the age of twelve years characterized by running away from home, truancy, staying out late at night among others. This pathway is the onset of the other two crime pathways. At this point persistent offenders move either to the overt pathway or the covert pathway. This pathway is a demonstration of conflict as opposed to respect for authority figures.

Overt pathway is characterized by minor aggression such as annoying behavior, bullying classmates and other children in early childhood in the initial stage to the next stage which is characterized by physical fights in middle childhood which are done mainly in gangs. This eventually matures to the third stage of serious violence such as robbery, rape, murder etc. in adolescence. This inflicts direct physical harm to others. This demonstrates aggression instead of the expected positive social problem solving.

Covert pathway starts from minor underhanded behaviors such as shoplifting and frequent lying in the first stage to property crime such as fire lighting, vandalism etc in the second stage. The third stage involves more grave acts of theft such as breaking and entering behaviors such as theft, fraud, property damage, burglary, fire setting, dealing drugs, using stolen credit cards, stealing cars etc. this displays problems of lying to parents, authorities etc, vandalism and theft instead of honesty and deference to private property (Howell, 2003 & Burfeid & Bartusch, 2006).

Some young people may show the signs of delinquency in their childhood but later outgrow them. Some youths develop more than one pathway in later stages. Each of these paths may lead to a sustained deviant career with some people showing the characteristics of more than one path at the same time. Those that show persistent criminal behavior may specialize in one form of delinquent behavior such as armed robbery or drug dealing while others may engage in varied delinquent and antisocial behavior. The persistent offender may have varied antisocial behavior as an adolescent such as cheating in exams, bullying other kids in school, peddling and taking drugs, stealing from stores, committing burglary. When they become adults they specialize in a specific crime such as drug trafficking or specialize in an assortment of crime acts as opportunities present themselves such as sell drugs, killing, robbery, car-jacking etc (Siegel & Welsh, 2009).

Experimenters and persisters

Childhood and adolescence are periods during which, experimentation with things is a normal behavior. They try out many things some of which are considered antisocial with some youths doing serious offenses. This will allow them to make mistakes and learn from them, but, some will go beyond experimentation to persistent offensive behaviors (Siegel & Welsh, 2009). Experimenters are described by Loeber et al as boys whose delinquent and disruptive behavior at a certain stage of pathway are temporary as they eventually stop or do not recur. Persisters on the other hand are youths whose delinquent behaviors are acknowledged by the youths themselves or by those taking care of them at more than one review. In this theory by Loeber, persisters enter delinquent pathways at the first stage while experimenters likely to enter at the second or third stages and then stopping. Also not all youths displaying characteristics of one or more pathways will go all the way to the final stage (Howell, 2003).

The number of those progressing to subsequent stages decreases as one move to the more serious levels within the pathway. Moreover the persons who reach the last stage in a given pathway tend to show the behavior characteristics of the earlier stages as opposed to replacing them with the more serious acts (Howell, 2003).

Conclusion

There are three pathways to disruptive and delinquency behaviors as described by Loeber and his colleagues in their study of Pittsburgh youths. These are Authority conflict, covert pathway and overt pathway. Youths may enter these pathways at the first or later stages with some being persistent offenders and others experimenters.

Works cited

Burfeid, J. W. & Bartusch, D. J. Juvenile Delinquency: An integrated Approach. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Howell, J. C. Preventing & reducing juvenile delinquency: a comprehensive framework. SAGE, 2003.

Siegel, L. J. & Welsh, B. C. Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.

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Three Pathways to Crime Identified by Loeber

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